Kestra Investment Management LLC Makes New $66,000 Investment in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX)

Kestra Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund purchased 385 shares of the asset manager’s stock, valued at approximately $66,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC lifted its stake in Blackstone by 50.5% in the 3rd quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 144,781 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $22,170,000 after acquiring an additional 48,601 shares in the last quarter. Greenleaf Trust lifted its position in shares of Blackstone by 27.1% in the third quarter. Greenleaf Trust now owns 5,911 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $905,000 after purchasing an additional 1,262 shares in the last quarter. McAdam LLC purchased a new position in Blackstone during the third quarter valued at approximately $249,000. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its position in Blackstone by 8.8% in the 3rd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 17,555 shares of the asset manager’s stock worth $2,688,000 after buying an additional 1,425 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Cambridge Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Blackstone during the 3rd quarter valued at $230,000. 70.00% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Blackstone Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE BX opened at $158.21 on Friday. Blackstone Inc. has a 12 month low of $115.82 and a 12 month high of $200.96. The company has a quick ratio of 0.71, a current ratio of 0.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61. The company has a market cap of $114.23 billion, a P/E ratio of 43.58, a P/E/G ratio of 1.09 and a beta of 1.53. The business’s 50 day moving average is $173.58 and its two-hundred day moving average is $165.23.

Blackstone (NYSE:BX) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The asset manager reported $1.69 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.50 by $0.19. Blackstone had a net margin of 20.99% and a return on equity of 19.58%. On average, equities analysts expect that Blackstone Inc. will post 5.87 EPS for the current year.

Blackstone Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, February 18th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 10th were issued a dividend of $1.44 per share. This represents a $5.76 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.64%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 10th. This is a positive change from Blackstone’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.86. Blackstone’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 158.68%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages recently issued reports on BX. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price objective on Blackstone from $174.00 to $177.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. TD Cowen upgraded Blackstone from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $149.00 to $230.00 in a report on Monday, December 9th. BMO Capital Markets increased their price objective on Blackstone from $134.00 to $157.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, December 19th. Citigroup boosted their target price on shares of Blackstone from $170.00 to $190.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Finally, Barclays reduced their price objective on shares of Blackstone from $192.00 to $186.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Thirteen research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $172.38.

Insider Activity at Blackstone

In other Blackstone news, Director Ruth Porat purchased 301 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 18th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $164.85 per share, with a total value of $49,619.85. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 36,829 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,071,260.65. This trade represents a 0.82 % increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. 1.00% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Blackstone Company Profile

Blackstone Inc is an alternative asset management firm specializing in real estate, private equity, hedge fund solutions, credit, secondary funds of funds, public debt and equity and multi-asset class strategies. The firm typically invests in early-stage companies. It also provide capital markets services.